Kate Forbes says SNP should axe Green power-sharing deal

Former SNP leadership candidate Kate Forbes has called for the party to scrap its power-sharing agreement with the Greens.

The ex-finance secretary told the New Statesman magazine the Greens wanted to "overregulate rural communities out of existence".

She said the Bute House Agreement should be repealed and the SNP should rule as a minority government.

The Greens said Ms Forbes' defeat in the leadership contest was a "relief".

The MSP was criticised during last year's contest to succeed Nicola Sturgeon for her views on gay marriage and children being born out of wedlock.

Ms Forbes had previously said SNP members should be allowed to reconsider policies in the 2021 Bute House Agreement, which brought Green co-leaders Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater into government as ministers.

The backbench MSP indicated that she believed that Green policies had cost the SNP support.

She added: "Their influence should be proportional to the public's support for their policies.

"And, unfortunately, right now, a lot of Green policies do not chime with the public's priorities during a cost of living crisis."

Ms Forbes told the New Statesman the SNP had previously succeeded "when the people trust us to focus more on their needs than on empty ideology".

She said that previous SNP governments had "managed to speak for the fisherman in Buchan as well as the working mum in Glasgow".

Talking about her time running to be SNP leader, the former minister said she would have been "haunted" had she not answered questions about her religious views honestly.

Ms Forbes left the cabinet after losing to Humza Yousaf, but told the magazine she "would have found it hard to turn it down" if she had been offered to stay on as finance secretary.

She added that she was taking the opportunity to "be a bit more edgy" on the backbenches.

Asked if she would consider running to be party leader again, Ms Forbes said: "I would only consider standing if I felt like I was the right kind of leader for the party and the country at that point in time."

A spokesman for the Scottish Greens said: "Kate Forbes lost the leadership contest for her party which, some months later, continues to be a considerable source of relief for all those who, like the majority of SNP members and ourselves, believe in a progressive, inclusive form of politics working on behalf of everyone in Scotland."

It comes after SNP ministers denied suggestions of a split with the Greens over the Scottish Budget, due to be announced on 19 December.

An SNP spokesperson said: "Only a matter of months ago, SNP members voted to elect Humza Yousaf as SNP leader and first minister after he stood on a platform endorsing the Scottish government's co-operation agreement which 95% of party members voted to support. "The Bute House Agreement has already delivered vital steps to tackle climate change, a better deal for tenants, and action to reduce poverty and inequality - such as an increase to the Scottish Child Payment and free bus travel for under-22s."